نشریه بیولوژی کاربردی
سال یازدهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 44، زمستان 1400)

This study was conducted to evaluate effective factors in variation of amount of Handsfield numbers in different CT scanners, considering the importance of CT number equivalence in diagnostic programs and cancer treatment by radiotherapy. Providing the better functional solutions for CT calibration, improving the quality of diagnostic and therapeutic programs, the emphasis on accepted tolerance and controlling the errors resulted from dose calculated by treatment planning systems were studied.

The process performed on raw data obtained during the calibration procedure on ten CT scanners in different radiotherapy centers in IRAN. This quality control tests performed by a selected approved Iranian company.

This research focused on CT Number correctness and accuracy tests section in calibration procedure. The factors influencing the variation of Honsfield numbers in CT scans were evaluated by analyzing the obtained data. Data are compared with other factors that cause to alter Handsfeld CT number and reported in previous researches.Creating an error and changing the numbers of CTs causes change in the CT density curve and ultimately effects on treatment plan and the received patient dose. Therefore, it should minimize the error rate by evaluating the effective factors of the TPS. The main factors affecting on Honsfield numbers are: photon energy, the characteristics of materials in phantoms used for calibration of the systems, physical phantom shape and diameter, patient/phantom position and image reconstruction algorithm.

It is strongly recommended that a well-documented assessment program is required to ensure Honsfield numbers changes in the confined range of treatments.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common causes of food poisoning in humans. Various methods including genotyping based on protein A (Spa typing) and PCR-based methods have been used for genetic classification of this bacterium. In the present study, Spa gene tracking was used for genotyping of Staphylococcus aureus isolates.

100 samples of raw chicken meat were collected from chicken meat supply centers in the market of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Samples were tested for Staphylococcus aureus bacteria by microbial culture and molecular methods and the presence of Spa gene in strains detected by PCR and enzymatic digestion.

Out of the total of  23 isolates of Staphylococcus aureus studied, 6 isolates lacked the Spa gene. In the rest of the isolates, a fragment with a size of about 1100 to 1500 bp was detected, and based on the detected gene fragment, 17 isolates containing the Spa gene were divided into four genotypes I to IV; So that 9 isolates were in SpaI genotype, 3 isolates in SpaII genotype, 3 isolates in SpaIII genotype and 2 isolates in SpaIV genotype.

The presence of high genomic diversity in these isolates indicates cross-contamination of contamination and therefore can be prevented from the presence and growth of this bacterium in food by implementing quality control and food safety standards during the production process.

Trichomoniasis is the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection in the world. Metronidazole is currently used for the treatment of trichomoniasis, which has side effects. In recent years, the use of plants has been considered by researchers. This study was conducted to investigate the anti-trichomonal activity of aqueous and alcoholic extract of pomegranate peel on Trichomonas vaginalis in vitro.

In this experimental study, the extracts were prepared, and to evaluate the effect of aqueous and alcoholic extract of pomegranate peel on Trichomonas vaginalis parasites, the concentrations of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 µg/ml were prepared. Metronidazole and TYM medium were considered positive and negative controls, respectively. Afterward, 105 live parasites were added to all wells, and all groups were kept at 37°C. Live parasites were counted at 24 and 48 h intervals by Trypan Blue using a neobar slide microscope (Hemocytometer). Also, the effect of metronidazole (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, and 10 µg/ml) was investigated as a drug control. Subsequently, the IC50 value for the above extract was calculated using GraphPad Prism 9. It should be noted that all steps of the experiment were performed in triplicate and the results were considered as average.

The IC50 of aqueous and alcoholic extract of pomegranate peel on Trichomonas vaginalis were calculated at 226.3, 109.9 μg/ml after 24h and 60.16 and 32.6 μg/ml after 48h, respectively. The IC50 of metronidazole was calculated at 0.28 and 0.1 μg/ml after 24h and 48h. The highest mortality rate (100%) was observed at a concentration of 3200 μg/ml after 24h of exposure.

While the aqueous and alcoholic extract of pomegranate peel has an anti-Trichomonas effect, the anti-Trichomonas properties of the alcoholic extract are more than its aqueous extract. Further and more comprehensive studies are suggested to investigate this plant's constituents and the parasite's lethal effect in vitro and in vivo conditions.

Lycopene is an aliphatic hydrocarbon that has antioxidant properties and is capable to collect and neutralize free radicals. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effect of lycopene on the reproduction of Mehraban ram.

In this experiment 20 male lambs aged 6 months, weighted 27±0.5 kg after clinical confirmation and vaccination (Food and mouth disease (FMD), Agalaxy and Enterotoxaemia) were selected. Lambs divided to 2 experimental groups with 10 replications. After two weeks of acclimatization, the lambs reared 100 days. The animal groups composed control (basic diet) and treatment basic diet + lycopene 5 gr/day. The lambs were fed twice per day, morning and evening. The water was freely available. At the end of the experimental period, after 24 hours of deprivation of feed, all lambs were slaughtered and testes were removed from the scrotum. Macroscopic traits were measured. Testis samples were fixed in formalin 10% for histology sections and microscopic features. Data of experiment were analyzed using a completely randomized design using SAS 2003 software and the means were compared with Duncan (P<0.05).

Application of lycopene significantly increased the thickness of the germinal epithelium and decreased the lumen diameter of seminiferous tubules compared to the control treatment (P˂0.05). No significant difference was observed in seminiferous tubules diameter and macroscopic traits.

The results of this experiment showed that lycopene has positive effects on the seminiferous tubules parameters of testis in ram.

 The effect of different concentrations of three types of gas mixtures (carbon dioxide, nitrogen),as well as vacuum and ordinary condition and ginger and cinnamon essential oils were evaluated to prolong shelf life of of creamy donut at ambient (25ºC) in one 4-layer container (119 μ).

 Ordinary packaging, as control samples were compared with four type of modified atmosphere packaging 1) 80% CO2 + 20% N2; 2) 20% CO2 + 80% N2;3) 50% CO2 + 50% N2, and 4) under vacuum condition along with injection ginger and cinnamon essential oils and samples without essential oils. Experiments were performed on samples as follows microbial test (aerobics count, mold and yeast count ),‌‌chemical pH test, amount of dripped water and sensory evaluation during 20 days.

 The shelf life, of creamy donut samples were reported with ginger essential oil under gas compositions, 80% CO2; 50% CO2 & 20% CO2 20, 19, 16 days in vacuum and ordinary conditions were 13, 11 days respectively, with cinnamon essential oil under different modified atmospheres, vacuum and ordinary conditions were 18, 16, 14, 11,‌‌ 9 days, without essential oil injection, under gas compounds above and vacuum and ordinary conditions were 15, 13, 11, 9, 6 days respectively.

 The best condition belonged to samples containing ginger essential oil under conditions 80% CO2 till 20 days, which had desirable effects on microbial population (aerobics bacteria "4.82 logcfu/ml", mold & yeast "2.56 logcfu/ml"), amounts of pH (5.49), dripped water (%0.61) and also sensory properties of samples.

Maintaining the balance of nutrients leads to increase yield so the essential elements should be available enough in the process of plant nutrition. This experiment was performed by foliar application of iron, zinc, and manganese nano-clates under limited irrigation conditions to improving leaf area index and leaf chlorophyll concentration.

The two years experiment was conducted (2016-2017). The main plot included four levels of irrigation: full irrigation, irrigation withhold at flowering stage, podding stage, and grain filling period. The subplot included eight levels of foliar application with Fe, Zn, Mn, Fe+Zn, Fe+Mn, Zn+Mn, Fe+Zn+Mn nano-chelates, and distilled water (control).

Drought stress reduced leaf area index significantly. The highest reduction was obtained from the interaction of control treatment and cessation of irrigation in the pod stage, which was 31.5% less than the full irrigation treatment. Foliar application of Zn+Mn was more successful in modulating drought stress and increased leaf area index by 49.4% compared to the control. Irrigation cessation in flowering stage increased chlorophyll concentration by 11.2% and decreased it by 16.5% in pod stage. With the application of Fe+Zn nano-chelate increased on leaf chlorophyll concentration in the pod stage and grain formation by 38.8% and 39.1% compared to the control and was recognized as the best treatment.

In limited irrigation conditions, foliar feeding of Fe, Zn and Mn nano-chlates is a suitable solution and compatible with water crisis and can improve soybean yield by modifying drought stress and improving leaf area index and leaf chlorophyll concentration.